Lost Coast Tour in NorCal: Day 0

I had never even heard of the Lost Coast before a client of mine from previous motorcycle tours said he was going to camp in the Redwoods, and could I come up and guide him? Before two summers ago, I didn’t even have a good idea of where Napa Valley was- I thought it was southeast of San Francisco for some reason. I am thoroughly a SoCal girl, and my main experience with NorCal is visiting the Bay Area, an internship at the Naval Research Lab in Monterey, snowboarding in Lake Tahoe, or doing a Fleet Week in Reno once, specifically so I could rent a motorcycle and hike in the mountains near Lake Tahoe for a few days while there. My good friend from San Diego was promoted to manage an RV park one valley over from Napa, and I visited her driving back from my friend’s wedding in Bend, Oregon, last year. That’s when I learned where Napa was, and the drive through the mountains to get to her location and the Redwoods hikes we did while I visited were just stunning! I wanted to go back and explore more, and I could tell the twisty roads would be just incredible on a motorcycle.

When the NorCal BDR media hype started, but before the GPS tracks had been released, I had this idea in my head that it would be in that area- wine country, the redwoods, and the rugged coast north of San Francisco. I was on a few Facebook groups for the NorCal BDR and rounded up some people who were interested in a Lost Coast tour along with the prior client of mine. As a sidenote, the NorCal BDR turned out to be in the Sierras, so not where I was thinking at all. Edge of Adventure Tours fully intends to run a NorCal BDR tour or two up there at some point in the future.

I had some help in planning this Lost Coast tour since I hadn’t been there before, minus the trip to my friend’s RV park. One of my tour guests had ridden around that area a few times, and my friend Carter lives in San Mateo and has ridden to that area quite a bit, as it’s only a few hours away for him. Carter was in the Navy with one of my Navy coworkers and good friends from a particularly challenging tour, and it turns out we all ride BMW GS’s and live in California now, so we’ve gotten together for some fun adventure rides and pushing the limits of our big bikes! Having a friend along on a ride as backup to fix things or help pick up the big bike if it gets wedged at a weird angle is a big confidence booster. Plus, I excel at doing research- that’s how I got this gig in the first place! I use Youtube videos, other people’s blog posts, GPS mapping apps like Gaia and OnX Offroad, and Butler Maps, which has recommended roads and trails along with details like difficulty and terrain type. Butler Maps has map series for many different regions that are appealing for motorcycles across the US, and in regions where I’ve lived and explored a lot and already set my tour routes, I find them to confirm all the good trails that I’ve found! I have an affiliate link for Butler Maps that gives you a 10% discount, here: caitlinadvg1

When you search for things like rental motorcycles, hotels, or gas stations up there, you quickly discover why it’s called the Lost Coast! It is a fairly remote area several hours up the 101 from the nearest big airport, Santa Rosa (or 1-2 hours south of a smaller airport in Eureka/Arcata that only connects to San Francisco or Los Angeles). Some other tour outfits may run a few tours in that region a year, but the rental motorcycles they use come from Sacramento, which is another 250 hot miles or so to ride just to get to the redwoods. It is not a highly developed area in general, with the big industries being fishing, logging, weed farms, or Cal Poly Humboldt University. Small hamlets dot the forest, which may or may not have gas or a small market for refreshments on stops. Dirt roads deemed too rugged to develop snake their way along the coast and through the forest- even U.S. highway one, the famous Pacific Coast Highway, dodges inland in this area. I was happy to trailer the bikes up for this tour and combine my trip with a visit to my friend who lived in wine country, since there wasn’t a convenient way to fly in, rent a car, and visit her anyway. Once I got through the very hot Central Valley, highway 101 north of Santa Rosa becomes windy and scenic, crossing over rivers and gravel bars, twisting along steep cliffs and mountains. I brought my puppy for the drive and we hiked at a beautiful reservoir in Sonoma County on our way up as well. Then I dropped her off at a kennel where she could play with other puppies while I went riding.

The Russian River in Sonoma County, CA, north of the Bay Area on highway 101Small merle-colored corgi mix stands on a trail with a lake and golden hills mixed with scrub oak in the background in Sonoma County, CA

One of the guests and I hit Orr Hot Springs on the way up. It is down a very twisty road in the mountains, and a natural hot spring that they have channeled into a series of pools and tubs. It is also clothing optional… but I definitely kept my clothes on! It was good to relax after 2 days of driving and loading bikes on the trailer.

I had watched videos and looked at many pictures to determine my routes, but I still wasn’t prepared for the raw beauty of the Lost Coast once the tour began!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *